Inequality, Power and School Success: Case Studies on Racial Disparity and Opportunity in Education

This volume highlights issues of power, inequality, and resistance for Asian, African American, and Latino/a students in distinct U.S. and international contexts. Through a collection of case studies it links universal issues relating to inequality in education, such as Asian, Latino, and African American males in the inner-city neighborhoods, Latina teachers and single mothers in California, undocumented youth from Mexico and El Salvador, immigrant Morrocan youth in Spain, and immigrant Afro-Caribbean and Indian teenagers in New York and in London. The volume explores the processes that keep students thriving academically and socially, and outlines the patterns that exist among individuals―students, teachers, parents―to resist the hegemony of the dominant class and school failure. With emphasis on racial formation theory, this volume fundamentally argues that education, despite inequality, remains the best hope of achieving the American dream.

Gilberto Q. Conchas is professor of education policy and social context at the University of California, Irvine. Conchas’ research focuses on inequality with an emphasis on urban communities and schools. He is the author of The Color of Success: Race and High-Achieving Urban Youth (2006), Small Schools and Urban Youth: Using the Power of School Culture to Engage Youth (2008), and StreetSmart SchoolSmart: Urban Poverty and the Education of Adolescent Boys (2012).

Michael A. Gottfried is an assistant professor in the department of education at the Gevirtz School at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Gottfried’s research focuses on the economics of education and education policy. Using the analytic tools from these disciplines, he has examined issues pertaining to peer effects, classroom context, and STEM. Dr. Gottfried has published numerous articles in these areas and won multiple scholarly awards for his research, including the AERA’s Outstanding Publication in Methodology Award (2010 and 2012) and the Highest Reviewed Paper Award (2013).